Varnam’s son: CARS EXPLAINED

The ‘Flying’ Scooter Moms of India

We all know the ‘soccer moms’ of Americas. It is time we are introduced to the ‘Scooter Moms’ of Bangalore or any city/town of India. They can also be called as Flying mom’s because they are dashing on the roads carting around kids to the school bus, school grounds in the mornings and the numerous activities in the evenings. These mom’s are daring and will do anything to drop the kid at the appointed time so that they can sigh a breath of relief.

If you are going around any area with schools in the morning, you will find these women. Haphazardly dressed because there is absolutely no time after cooking and packing the lunch boxes and the numerous snack boxes, dragging the sleepy kids off the bed into the bathrooms, pushing down the breakfast, making sure they did the last-minute homework that was forgotten the day before … I need to get some air writing about it, so one can imagine how harried the day would start for these parents. In India, all these tasks are mostly done by the Mothers. So if there are any fathers out there, please do not take offense. You can relate to it if you take part even in 1% of the action drama.

Once the respective lunch boxes are packed, the hairs combed and the school boxes are ready most often than not, the clock would have been working extra hard and is precariously close to the 11th hour. Piling them on the scooter, with the helmet roughly pushed into place, these mothers are racing against time to deliver the packages. It is a sight to behold. These entourages with their bags, lunch bags on one hand, charts or other home work material in another hand are faster than the ICBM’s (InterContinental Ballistic Missiles). In this avatar, the mother most often reminds me of the urban equivalent of Sakthi – Durga mata. The scooter is the vahana (vehicle), the kids hands behind holding the various stuff the armaments.

If they reach on time, the mothers have time to catch a few gossips before returning back. But if in case, the bus leaves, then it is another sprint to get them to the next nearest bus stop or the school. Those days, you can safely assume that the mothers will have to sacrifice their leisurely morning cup of coffee.

I have immense respect for these ‘crisis managers’. Their troubleshooting skills in identifying the short cuts and to surmount all kind of obstacles will put any corporate manager to shame. If you are one among the tribe, please let me know how you get the energy to do this day in and day out.